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Volvo Ditches Diesel Engine For S60

Swedish luxury automaker Volvo is all set to ditch diesel engine with the upcoming S60 in Europe. Not only for the S60, but the luxury automaker all prepared to never launch another new car with a diesel engine. The all new Volvo S60 will be available with petrol engine and hybrid powertrain option only. The new model is scheduled to be revealed in the next few weeks with sales starting before the end of the year.

Speaking about the same, Håkan Samuelsson, president and chief executive of Volvo Cars said, “Our future is electric and we will no longer develop a new generation of diesel engines. We will phase-out cars with only an internal combustion engine, with petrol hybrid versions as a transitional option as we move towards full electrification. The new S60 represents the next step in that commitment.”

Based on the same SPA chassis technology as the V60 and the larger S90, V90 and XC90, the upcoming Volvo S60 will be offered initially with a range of four-cylinder Drive-E petrol engines and a plug-in hybrid edition while a mild hybrid version of the car will arrive in 2019 as claimed by the automaker.

Volvo Cars reinforced its electrification strategy by stating that it aims for fully electric cars to make up 50 percent of its global sales by 2025 at the 2018 Beijing Motor Show last month. China being the world’s leading market for electrified cars, this announcement positioned the carmaker as a powerful player in the country.

Volvo is all set to start the manufacturing of the S60 mid-size sports sedan in the second half of this year at Volvo’s brand-new manufacturing facility outside Charleston, South Carolina. While American-built S60s will be sold in the US market they will also be exported overseas as the Charleston plant will be the only manufacturing location for the new S60.

The 2018 Volvo S60 will become the first modern Volvo to be produced without at least the option of diesel power. Other cars in the lineup are the XC40 and the recently launched V60 estate with D3 and D4 variants. However, Volvo is not the first automaker to ditch the diesel engine from its product lineup. Earlier, Toyota Motor Corp. and Nissan Motor Co. had decided to phase out diesel choices altogether amid declining demand. While the diesel sales made up 70 percent for Volvo in Europe last year, for Toyota it was 10 percent only.

Talking about the launch of the new Vovlo S60 in the Indian market, the Swedish luxury automaker is preparing to launch the saloon by July 2018. Currently, existing Volvo S60 is available in four different variants in the market including D4 Momentum priced at Rs 38.51 lakh (ex-showroom, India), D4 R-Design at Rs 40.78 lakh (ex-showroom, India), D5 Cross Country with a price tag of Rs 44.27 lakh (ex-showroom, India) and the 367hp Polestar at Rs 56.02 lakh (ex-showroom, India). The luxury sedan by Volvo will continue taking against the likes of Mercedes GLA in the segment in the Indian market. The official launch date of the car has not been announced yet, hence stay tuned to V3cars.com for further updates on the upcoming Volvo S60.